Published 5:30 am, Friday, June 17, 2011

New Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo, right, holds up a jersey with general manager Chuck Fletcher.

New Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo, right, holds up a jersey with general manager Chuck Fletcher.

Photo: David Joles, Associated Press

Aeros’ success sells Wild on Yeo

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mike Yeo considered himself an average hockey player, but he knew he wanted to be a coach. At 18, he began writing down drills, noting tactics and paying attention to coaching philosophies, hoping one day he could apply them himself. His mind was set.

On Friday, the Minnesota Wild named Yeo, now 37, the NHL’s youngest active head coach.

“I’ve always believed in myself,” Yeo said at the news conference. “I always believed that this day would come — that I’d be a head coach in the National Hockey League.”

He responded by guiding the Aeros to within two games of the Calder Cup championship, while the Wild fired second-year coach Todd Richards after the team missed the postseason for the third consecutive year.

Despite other qualified candidates being interviewed, Yeo remained confident he was the right man for the job. That didn’t make the process any easier.

“In the days leading up to it, I’d think I got the job and didn’t get the job about 76 times. I kept changing my own mind,” Yeo said.

Character counts

Yeo is considered a risky choice because of his age and a perhaps an unfair comparison to the Wild’s previously failed experiment with a rookie head coach.

Fletcher, who worked with Yeo in Pittsburgh, lauded his structure, communication skills, knowledge and ability to hold players accountable.

“I’m very fortunate that in Pittsburgh I spent three years with him and you come into the office at 8:30 and he’s been in there for three hours,” Fletcher said. “You see how hard he works. You see how he relates to people. You see how he interacts with his family. I have a really good picture of Mike Yeo, the human being, and his character.”

During the Calder Cup run, the Aeros’ puck possession, defense, speed, physicality and attention to detail impressed Fletcher. The Aeros were not loaded with talent but played intense, structured team hockey.

Getting his players and the team to overachieve made Yeo more of an appealing candidate.

“For our team to get to where we did, the players deserve a lot of credit, but I don’t think you can underestimate the job Mike and his staff did,” Fletcher said.

Without the playoff run, Yeo, who began his coaching career at 26 as an assistant for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (the Penguins’ top minor-league AHL affiliate), believes he still would be coaching the Wild’s farm club.

“There’s no question,” said Yeo, who played for the Aeros from 1994-99 and helped lead them to a Turner Cup in the ‘99 season. “I think that if the season ended and we lost in the first round, I think that they probably would have said ‘nice job.’

“There’s no question we made great strides, but I believe people want winners.”

Minnesota has made the playoffs only three times and advanced past the first round once during its 10-year existence.

Hard work pays off

Yeo used the words aggressive, physical, detailed, structured and smart to describe his vision of the Wild, similar to the system he instilled with the Aeros.

The Wild’s new coach might not be the only one leaving Houston. With roster spots expected to open up this summer, Minnesota will look for some of its prospects to step up, including Colton Gillies, Marco Scandella, Casey Wellman and others.

Yeo said he loves taking on new challenges and dealing with adversity. Next season, he will find himself facing the biggest challenge of his coaching career.

Yeo believes he has earned the opportunity to coach at the next level.

“I can talk about my experience and all the other things; the journey to get here,” Yeo said.